CHAPTER IV.

GENERAL REMARKS.

Bacon, amongst the humours and errors of Learning, classes the
opinion, " That of all sects and opinions, the best hath still pre-
vailed." And he writes upon this, "For Time seemeth to be of
the nature of a River, which carrieth down to us that which is
light and blown up, and sinketh and drowneth, that which is
weighty and solid" (Book L, p. 37, "Advancement"). This
thoroughly agrees with what Spedding confessed to having
realised, viz.. Bacon's belief in some great pre-historic period, in
which knowledge had been greater and more universal. The
choice by Bacon of Plato's island of the New Atlantis for his
ideal republic, carries this belief further out. Bacon evidently
chose this site on account of its extreme pre-historic character,
and vnth. that delight in antithetic contrasts which he is so fond
of, places his college of the six days upon it, and forestalls by
sheer power of imagination the marvels of the scientific future.
Bacon is fond of uniting the old world to the new. This is pro-
minent in his ship device, whereby he imitates in the realm of
science the voyages of Columbus. So we may also see in his
choice of the island of the New Atlantis, as the site and field of
modern discovery, the same uniting of the extremest antiquity
with his ideal of man's attainments over nature in the future.-
Underneath all this lies dimly implied a restoration of know-
ledge, a returning full circle to what once he thought existed.
Those who have studied Madame Blavatsky's " Secret Doctrine,"
will see how truly the supposed myth of the submerged island of
the Atlantic is connected not only with Truth, but with secret
doctrines of which the Egyptian Priests had evidently some

3 58 GENERAL REMARKS.

knowledge. It is our earnest conviction that Bacon had attained
to extraordinary comprehension of Bible and esoteric, or what is
called hermetic science.* We find this in the way he writes in his
note-book disparagingly of the Greeks and Egyptians, and goes
back to Chaldtea f for authority. How are we to explain his state-
ment in the preface to the " Instauration," that the " Commerce
of the mind and of things might by any means be entirely restored " ?
This is exactly the language used in the Eosicrucian manifestoes,
1614. And it is remarkable that the character and plan of the
" Instauration " is half divine, and borroAved from the six days of
creation of Genesis. This is no fancied theory of ours. He
closes his Distribution Preface with a prayer : "Wherefore if we
labour with diligence and vigilance in thy works, thou Avilt make
us participants of thy vision and of thy Sabbath." t This shows,
closing as it does the six divisions of the design, that not only is
the " Instaiu-ation" closely in touch with the College of the six days
or Solomon's House of the "New Atlantis," but that Bacon's
scheme was creative. This is very strange when we reflect, how
his work appears only to be a system of Inductive Philosophy.

* "Nor is it, for most part, so revealed unto us, what iu Arts and Sciences
hatli been discovered, and Lrouglit to light in diverse ages, and different
regions of tlie world ; nuicli less what hath been experimented, and seriously
laboured by particular persons in private ; for neither the births nor the abor-
tions of time luive been registered " (Preface, " Great Instauration," "Advance-
ment," 1640). By ^'abortions," Bacon means premature discoveries, before
time was ripe to appreciate or accept them.

t Spedding in his preface to the Redargutio, iixing the date, by means of
certain entries in Bacon's note book (Commentarius Solutus), viz., July 26th,
1608 : "Discoursing scornfully of the philosophy of the Grecians, with some
better respect to the ^Egyptians, Persians, Chaldees, and the utmost antiquity,
and the mysteries of the poets " (Preface to the ' ' Dclineatio et Argumentum et
Redargutio Philosophiarum," vol. iii., Phil. "Wks., 545). So here is an indepeji-
dent proof, that lW>on was contemplating an address, to what he terms in his
next entry " Filios."

"Qu. of an oration ad filios ; delightful, sublime, and mixed with elegancy,
alfection, novelty of conceit, aiul yet sensible, and superstition " {Ibid).

t Spenser (F. Q., viii. 2) :

" But thenceforth all sliall rest eternally
Witli him that is the God of Sabaoth hight :
0 ! that gi-eat Sabaoth God, grant me tliat Sabaoth's sight."

GENERAL REMARKS. 359

It is a striking feature of most of the Rosicruciaii writers of note,
how fond they are of the siz creative days, as a theme or scheme
for the division and treatment of their works. One of Michael
Maier's celebrated works, " Sejitiraana Philosoj^hica," is likewise
divided into seven parts called the days. Du Bartas' " Divine Week "
is a contemporary work on the same model. Campanella's " City
of the Sun " is often found bound up * with Bacon's " Atlantis,"
and treats of an ideal republic or commonwealth in like manner.
The author was a w^ell-acknowledged Eosicrucian. John Valen-
tine Andreas wrote a work entitled, "Reipublicae Christianopo-
litanas " — an Utopia of exactly similar stamp. Burton, in his
" Anatomy of Melancholy," classes all these three works together,
in context with the Eosicrucians. A strong religious element is
conspicuous in all these Avritings.

It is a striking point of touch between the Eosicrucians and
Bacon, that the}^ insisted upon appeal to nature by direct ex-
periment, after the inductive method insisted on by the latter.
A study of the great English Eosicrucian, Eobert Fludd's works,
will in a moment illustrate these points. He wrote a work on the
Mosaic Cosmogony, and another work full of experiments upon
Natural Science. The Eosicrucians took Solomon for their his-
toric founder and patron. Bacon does the same in the " New
Atlantis." Those who cannot realize or possibly obtain a
glimmer of meaning out of what Bacon means by a " restoration
of knowledge," may be referred to such works as "The Perfect
Way " and " Clothed in the Sun," by the late lamented and
extraordinary woman, Anna Kingsford. They will find there,
what I take and imagine to be the lifting of the veil, and fore-
stalments of the sort of inspired knowledge Bacon was probably
in possession of, w^hich knowledge is Hermetic and is as old
as the Pyramids of Egypt. We may guess it Avas this sort of
wisdom (which still lingers under the fossil rituals of Masonry),

* AVe possess a work entitled, " Mundus Alter kt Idem," in which Cam-
panella's "Civitas Solis," and Bacon's " New Atlantis," are to be found side
by side. The date is 1643, and the work ascribed to Bishop Hall.

36o GENERAL REMARKS.

that affiliates Bacon's name and his " New Atlantis," with the
meeting in 1646 at Warrington of a Lodge, when his pillars
were adopted, and from which the modern brotherhood date
authentically their more recent history.*

Bacon's extreme predilection for quoting Solomon is one of
the features of his " Advancement of Learning" (1605), and of
the " De Augmentis " (1623). There are forty-seven citations
from the "Book of Proverbs" in the 1640 Translation (see
Lulex of " Sacred Authors "), fifteen from " IJccIedasfes." Thirty-
four of the Parables of King Solomon are not only introduced in the
Eighth Book, but each is separately commented upon at consider-
able length, taking up twenty-six complete pages of letterpress !
A glance at the catalogue of the " Sacred Authors " quoted, will
show this was Bacon's favourite writer in this class of wisdom,
;ind it is very well worthy consideration. Bacon again intro-
duces Solomon as the founder of his College of the Six Days in
the "New Atlantis." Solomon loas the Bihliatl protagonist, w patron
of the IiosicrucianSjj and there is something in this fact affiliating

* " The London Freemasons also horroiucd much of their phraseology from.
Lord Bacons ' Essay,' yet fresh in men's minds, in which, adopting the idea
of the 'House of Wisdom,' a technical term with the Arab Astrologers, he
proposed the foundation of a 'Solomon's House,' or a learned community
dedicated to experimental [)hilosophy and the advancement of science. These
philosoi)hic and royalist plotters, in order to cloak their real object, conducted
their [)roceedings according to the rules laid down therein ; and this ceremonial
and nomenclature they carefully maintain to the present day " (" The Gnostics
and their Remains," King, p. 178).

t " Our philosojihy also is not a new invention, but as Adam after his fall
received it, and as Moses and Solomon used it, also it ought not much to be
doubted of, or contradicted by other oi)inions or meanings ; but seeing the
truth is 2>caccablc, brief, and always like herself in all things" ("Fama
Fraternitatis, " 1614, p. 82, Waite). Again: "Wherein Enoch, Abraham,
Moses, Solomon, did excel, but especially wherewith that wonderful book the
IJible agreeth. All that same concurreth together, and makcth a sphere or
globe whose total jMvts arc equidistant from tlic centre " {lb.). Bacon writes :
" Thus have we made as it were a small globe of the Intellectual World " (p.
476, Book IX., " De Augmentis") ("Jam itaque mihi videor confecisse
Globum exigttuni orbis intellectualis quam potui fidelissime.")

On pages 43, 44, 45 of the First Book "Advancement of Learning" {and
" De Augmentis"), Bacon discusses Moses and Solomon.

GENERAL REMARKS. 361

Bacon to the Society. "NVc read in the " New Atlantis": "There
reigned in this island, about 1900 years ago, a Kiwj^ whose
memory of all others we most adore ; not superstitiously, but as
a Divine instrument, though a mortal man : his name was
Salonwna ; and we esteem him as the law-giver of our nation."
Again : " Yee shall understand (my dear friends), that amongst
the excellent acts of that King, one above all hath the pre-
eminence. It was the erection and institution of an Order, or
Society, which Ave call Salomons hnt.se; the noblest foundation
(as we think) that ever was upon the earth ; and the lanthorn of
this kingdom. It is dedicated to the study of the works and
creatures of God. Some think it bears the founder's name a little
corrujjted, as if it should be Solomon's House. But the records
write it, as it is spoken. So as I take it to he denominate of the
King of the Hebrews, which is famous with you, and no stranger to
us / for we have some jMrts of his works, lohich with you are lost ;
namely tliat Natural History, which he wrote of all plants, from the
cedar of Libanus, to the moss that groweth out of the wall ; and
of all things that have life and motion. This maketh me think,
that our king finding himself to symbolise, in many things, Avith
that King of the Hebrews (which lived many years before him),
honoured him with the title of this foundation. And I am the rather
induced to be of this opinion, for that I find in ancient records,
this Order or Society is sometimes called Solomon's House ;
and sometimes the College of the Six Days "Work ; whereby 1
am satisfied, that our excellent King had learned from the
Hebrews, that God had created the world, and all that therein
is, A\-ithin six days ; and therefore he instituting that house, for
the finding out of the true nature of all things (whereby God
might have the more glory in the workmanship of them, and
men the more fruit in the use of them), did give it also that
second name."" The extraordinary study and weight Bacon

* Robert Fludd introduces this passage verbatim in his "Suninium Bonuni,"
1629. It is always repeated in the same words both by Bacon and Fhidd.
Bacon repeats it three times, as we have .shown, and Fhidd repeats it in the

362 GENERAL REMARKS.

attached to Solomon's writings may be further proved by refex--
ence to the " Advancement and Proficience of Learning" of 1605.
There we find twenty-five more Aphorisms given and separately
commented on by Bacon, which he concludes thus : — " Thus have
I stayed somewhat longer i;pon these sentences politic of Solo-
mon than is agreealile to the proportion of an example ; led Avith
a desire to give authority to this part of knowledge, which I noted
as deficient, by so excellent a precedent ; and have also attended
them Avith brief observations, such as to my understanding offer
no violence to the sense, though I know they may be applied to
a more divine use : but it is allowed, even in divinit}^, that some
interpretations, ijea, and some toritingi have more of the eagle than
others" (Book II. xxiii.). In a Kosicrucian Confession or Mani-
festo, published by Mr E. Waite, we read : " A thousand times
the unworthy may clamour, a thousand times may present them-
selves, yet God hath commanded our ears that they should hear
none of them, and hath so compassed us about Avith His clouds
that unto us. His servants, no violence can be done ; wherefore
noAv no longer are we beheld by human eyes, unless they have
received strength horroiued from the eagle."

This is repeated on the last page of the poems, in that curious
and mysterious threne, the " Phoenix and Turtle," which seems
pretty plainly to hint at rebirth or revelation : —

From this session interdict
Every fowl of tyrant wing,
Save tlie eagle, feather'd king :
Keep the obsequy so strict.

That Bacon regarded the eagle in an apocalyptic sense is evi-
dent from the way he connects it with St John : " St John, an
apostle of our Saviour, and the Beloved Disciple lived ninety-three
years. He was rightly denoted under the emblem of the eagle
for his piercing sight into the Divinity, and was a Seraph among
his Apostles in respect of his burning Love " (" History of Life

■ ' Apologeticus Tractat. , " 1617. I am convinced it is a text or reference to
the founder of tlie Rosicrncian Society, and of Solomon's House of the "New
Atlantis."

GENERAL REMARKS. 3^3

and Death," 17, 18). It is plain Bacon and the Rosicrucians
both allude to the eagle in the same sense. And amongst the
favourite books of Scripture to which the society particularly
applied themselves were the " Revelations of St John the
Divine," already mentioned by Bacon. It is well worthy note
that the feast of St John (Midsummer-day) is the chief festival of
the Freemasons, who, according to De Quincey, Nicolai, and Murr,
are lineal descendants of the Rosicrucians. In a work entitled
"Aureum Seculum Redivivum, or The Ancient Golden Age,
which has disappeared from the earth, but Avill re-appear," by
Henricus Madathanus Theosophus (who styles himself " Mcdicus
et tandem, Dei Gratia, aurese crucis frater "), published by Franz
Hartmann (Boston, 1888), we find a great deal upon the Apo-
calypse and the Book with seven seals. There can be little
doubt the Book of Revelation is in connection with the Book of
the prophet Daniel. It has generally been allowed by all writers
on this subject, that the hook mth the seven seals is alluded to in
the verse from Daniel : " But thou, 0 Daniel, shut up the words, and
seal the book, even to the time of the end : many shall run to and fro,
and knowledge shall be increased " (ch. xii. v. 4). Now this is not
only Bacon's motto to both the " Novum Organum " and the "De
Augmentis," 1640, but this also is the motto attached to the title-
page of " Anthroposophia Theomagica," by the great English
Rosicrucian, Thomas Vaughan (alias Eugenius Philalethes), which
title-page we reproduce : —

ANTHROPOSOPHIA THEOMAGICA :

A DISCOURSE OF THE NATURE OF MAN AND HIS STATE
AFTER DEATH;

GROUNDED ON HIS CREATOR'S PROTO-CHIMISTRY,

AND VERIFI'D by A PRACTICALL EXAMINATION OF PRINCIPLES

IN THE GREAT WORLD.

BY

EUGENIUS PHILALETHES.

Dam : Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
Zoroaster in Oracul. — Audi Ignis Vocem.

364 GENERAL REMARKS.

Dr Abbott confesses Bacon wrote " Like a priest, like a prophet
of Science, whose mission he himself describes as being to px-
pare and adorn the bride chamber of the Mind and the universe " *
(" Bacon as a Philosopher," xcv.).

This language bears a certain affinity to some Rosicrucian
writings, particularly the " Chymical Marriage of Christian
Rosy Cross " (published by Mr AVaite in his " Real History
of the Rosicrucians "). This is generally understood to be
a profound allegory. We cannot help thinking that this simile
of Bacon's is borrowed from the Song of Solomon, in which is
sung the Epithalamium (or marriage song) of Christ and his
Church. There is good reason for believing the Rosicrucians
considered Christ as the corner-stone or foundation of the world,
in the light of the Logos, or Wisdom underlying the phenomenal
world. That is taken in an esoteric sense, Christ is Truth not
merely in an ethical sense, but in a philosophical and Catholic
spirit, representing the marriage of man's mind to the universe.
Bacon, be it observed, never separates Philosophy or science
from Religion. He writes like "a priest," likes a Hermes
Trigmegistus, and we take it he looked upon Religion as the
frame embracing all things. The Rosicrucians borrowed much
from the books of Hermes, in which the Logos doctrine is clearl}^
emuiciated as Wisdom.

CXVI.

Let me not to the maTriagc of true viinds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

AVhich alters -when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove :

0, no ! it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken ;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, althougli his height be taken.

* " The explanation of whicli things, and of the true relation between the
nature of things and the nature of the mind, is as the strewing and deeoration
of the bridal chamber of the Mind and the Universe, the Divine Goodness
assisting ; out of ichich marriage let us hope {and he this the prayer of the
bridal song) tliere may spring helps to man, and a line and race of inventions
that may in some degi-ee subdue and overcome the necessities and miseries of
humanity. This is the second i)art of the work "(" Distribution Preface,"
"Advancement of Learning," p. 30. 1640).

GENERAL REMARKS. 365

Bacon and Campaneli-a.

In the Second Book of the "Novum Organum" (Aphorism
36), we find Bacon enunciating the same theories held by Cam-
panella, Telesius, and Patricius concerning the sea, viz., a rising
and falling, on which Mr Ellis, "one theory, that of Telesius
and Patricius, compares the sea to the water in a cauldron, that
is to say, it rises and tends to boil over when its natural heat is
called forth under the influence of the sun, moon, and stars, and
then after subsides" (Ellis and Spedding, vol. iii., p. 41). Mr
Fowler, in his notes to his edition of the " Novum Organum,"
calls attention to this (p. 463). Bacon has followed or imitated
Telesius more than anybody else. " Bacon derived more ideas
from him [Telesius] than from any other of the novelists, as he
has somewhere called the philosophical innovation, and has
"WTitten a separate treatise on three systems of philosophy, of
which his is one" (Works, i., 564, footnote). But Campanella
was a disciple of Telesius. Professor Fowler : "To Telesius,
whom he [Bacon] calls the best of the novelists. Bacon refers,
perhaps, more than to any other modern -vvi-iter" ("Novum
Organum," p. 312). Again : " Campanella, whose name is frequently
coupled tdth that of Bacon hy the German imiters of the seventeenth
century, and who teas celebrated in his time as the disciple of Telesius "
(Introduction, " Novum Organum," p. 95).

This is most important evidence, for it bears out the declara-
tion of Tobias Adami * (Campanella's editor), prefixed to the

* This is what we read in the 1640 "Advancement": " Tob. Adami, in
his preface to the 'Realis Philosophia' of that excellent philosopher Cam-
panella, speaks his opinion thus : ' We erect no sect, establish no placits of
Heresy, but endeavour to transcribe universal and ever veritable philosophy
out of the ancient original coi>y of the world : not according to variable and
disputable speculations, but according to the conducture of sense and irrefrag-
able depositions of the Architect himself, whose hand in works differs not
from his word in writing. And of the ' Great Instauration ' of the dee})
mining philosopher Fra. Bacon, Lo. Verulam, Chancellor of England, a work
of high expectation, and most worthy, as of consideration, so of assistance
be brought to perfection, it icill 'j^crchance appear that we pursue the same
ends, seeing we tread the same footsteps in tracing, and, as it were, hounding
nature by sense ami experience. ' "

366 GENERAL REMARKS.

judgments upon Bacon, printed in "Wat's translation of the "De
Augmentis," 1640. There can be no doubt, from the evidence
of the striking resemblance of Campanella's " City of the Sun "
to Bacon's "New Atlantis," there was some secret connection of
philosophic aim or collaboration of brotherhood between them.
It is our opinion Telesius, Campanella, Severinus, and Bacon
were all members of the fraternity of Rosicrucians. The com-
parison of Bacon to Campanella is most frequent in ■\\Titers upon
Bacon's works. Leibnitz: "Interea feliciter.accidit ut consilia
magni viri Francisci Baconi, Anglite Cancellarii, de augmentis
scientiarum, et cogitata excitatissima Cardani et Campanellse et
specimina melioris philosophia? Kepleri et Galilei et Cartesii ad
manus pervenirent" ("Opera Philosophica," Erdman, p. 91).
He then felt as if transported to another world. "At si ille
Bacono, hie Campanellse comparetur, apparet illos humi repere ;
hos magnitudine cogitationum, consiliorum, immo destinationum
assiu'gere in nubes, ac pene human?e potentise imparia moliri.
Illi ergo tradendis principiis, hi conclusionibus ad usum insig-
nibus eliciendis meliores." Professor Fowler remarks : " It is
curious so frequently to find the name of Bacon coupled by
German writers with that of Campanella" (Introduction, "Novum
Organum," p. 109).

Perhaps this continual coupling of names by German writers
has some source in the fact that the Eosicrucian Manifestoes took
rise in Germany. We find Burton, in his " Anatomy of Melan-
choly," coupling Bacon's "New Atlantis" with Cam^mnella's
"City of the Sun." For example, "Utopian parity is a kind of
government to be wished for rather than eff"ected, llespuh. Chris-
fianopolitana, Campanella's City of the Sun, and that ' New Atlantis,'
witty fictions but mere chimeras" (p. 60, Democritus to the
Reader, 16th edition, "Anatomy of Melancholy"). And in a
footnote we read, (appended to Respub. Christianopolitana),
"John Valentine Andreas, Lord Yerulam." Now John
Val. Andreas, was sujiposed by De Quincey, to have been the
author of the Rosicrucian Fraternity and JManifestoes. It is

GENERAL REMARKS. 367

therefore striking to find Burton, who, as we shall show, knows
more than he openly writes, thus coupling Bacon and Andreas
together. For example, as to Burton's knowledge of the
real founder of the Order of Rosie Cross, and the mythical
history of its founder : " I should here except some cynics —
MenipjDus, Diogenes, that Theban Crates, or to descend to these
times, that omniscious, only wise fraternity of the Eosie Cross,
those great theologues, politicians, philosophers, physicians,
l)hilologers, artists, &c., of whom St Bridget, Albas Joacchimus,
Leicenbergius, and such divine spirits, have prophesied, and made
promise to the world, if at least there be any such, (Hen. Neu
heusius makes a doubt of it, Valentinus Andreas, and others), or
an Elias Artifex, their Theophrastian master ; Avhom, though
Libavius and many deride and carp at, yet some will have to be
the Renewer of all Arts and Sciences, reformer of the tcorld and now
living; for so Johannes Montanus Strigoniensis (that great
patron of Paracelsus) contends, and certainly avers, a most divine
num (Divinus ille vir, auctor notarum in ep. Rog. Bacon, ed.
Hambur., 1608), and the quintessence of wisdom, wheresoever
he is ; for he, his fraternity, friends, &c., are all betrothed to
Avisdom, if we may believe their disciples and followers. I must
needs except Lipsius and the Pope, and expunge their names
out of the catalogue of fools : for beside that parasitical testimony
of Dousa, —

A sole exoriente Mteotidas usque paludes,
Nemo est, qui justo se n?quiparare queat.

Lipsius saith of himself, that he was humani generis quidam
pcedagogus voce et stylo, a grand signior, a master, a tutor of us all :
and for thirteen years, he brags how he sowed wisdom in the
Low Countries (as Ammonius the philosopher did in Alexandria),
cam hiimanitate literas et sapientiam cwn prudentid : antistes sapdentio',
he shall be sapientum octavus" (p. 72, "Democritus to the
Reader "). Li a footnote we read (attached to the description of
the founder of the Rosicrucians " noiv living "), " omnium artium et

368 GENERAL REMARKS.

scientiarum instauratar." This can only apply to Francis Bacon.
For he repeatedly alludes to his own work, as a renewal or
restoration of knowledge, of Arts and Sciences, and the actual title
of his great Avork is the Great Instauration. Burton wrote this in
1621, and this proves that Avhat both De Quincey and Mr Waite
have affirmed as to the mythical history of the society being a
fraud, is true.

We find Bacon in his Instauration Preface writing : " Restabat
illud unum ut res de integro tentetur melioribus prsesidiis, utque
fiat scientiarum et artium atqiie omnis Jmmance doctrince in universum
instauratio, a debitis excitata fundamentis." Here we have almost
Burton's words, — "Instauration of Arts and Sciences." But see
in how many points the description given by Burton of the
founder of the Rosicrucians agrees with what we know of Bacon.
To begin with, he was at the time Burton ^vi'ote a " grand
signior," Lord Keeper of the Seal (1617), Baron Verulam, and in
1621 Viscount St Albans. " Antistes Sapientice" means a Great
Lawyer, an Oracle of the Law (Ainsworth, " Latin Dictionary ").
We find Bacon's "New Atlantis" cited side by side with the "Resp.
Christianopolitana3" of the great Rosicrucian protagonist, Valentine
Andreas. To confirm this evidence, we have John Heydon, a
Rosicrucian Apologist, reproducing, word for word, without any
alteration of note or importance, the entire text of Bacon's
" New Atlantis," and entitling it " The Land of the Rosicrucians " !
Critics have replied by classing Heydon impostor and mounte-
bank. If Heydon's evidence stood singly this retort might have
weight. But was Burton also an impostor 1 Is Nimrod an
impostor, who deliberately calls Campanella a meml^er of the
brotherhood or gang (as he writes) of the Rosie Cross ? And do
we not find Professor Fowler calling attention to the strange
coupling of Bacon's name with Campanella's by German writers ?
The date of Campanella's "Civitas Solis" is 1623, the date of
the publication of the Folio plays known as Shakespeare's, and
the "De Augmentis." The internal evidence of Campanella's
^' City of the Sun " is to place it side by side in the same category

GENERAL REMARKS. 369

of Utopian works as Bacon's " New Atlantis." Both are portraits
of an ideal Republic. And have we not in the fact that
Valentine Andreas wrote a work of this class, positive evidence
afforded that such Utopian or ideal scheme for the reformation
of Society was one of the Rosicrucian dreams ? The first Rosi-
crucian Manifesto, reproduced almost literally from Boccalini's
" Ragguagli di Parnasso," presents us with exactly the same end
or aim. We are introduced to the Seven Wise Men of Greece,
who severally propose ideas for the bettering of society. The
Rosicrucians termed themselves a college.

< >uid vis ? Collegium nostrum est Acadwiuia qufedam,
Doctriufe studiis cum pietate sacra.

("John Valentine Andreas," Berlin, 1619.)

Bacon's " New Atlantis " is called the " College of the Six Days."
Bacon writes in the Preface to the "Advancement of Learning,"
1640: "This one way remaineth, that the business be wholly
re-attempted with better preparations, and that there be through-
out an Instauration of Sciences and Arts, and of all human learning
raised from solid foundations." These words are but Burton's
over again, and in the Second Book of the " Advancement "
(78, 79) Bacon again introduces the subject of Arts and Sciences
in context with foundations and Colleges. In the great Rosi-
crucian Manifesto, published at Cassel in 1614, and Frankfort-
on-the-Main, 1615, occur these words: "He shewed them
new growths, new fruits and beasts, Avhich did concord with
old philosophy, and prescribed them new Axiomata, whereby all
things might fully he restored." This refers to Father Rosy Cross,
the founder of the society. Now compare Bacon's statement
prefacing the Instauratio : " Francis of Verulam . . . being con-
vinced that the human intellect makes its own difficulties, not
using the true helps which are at man's disposal soberly and
judiciously ; thought all trial should be made, whether that
commerce between the mind of man and the nature of things,
which is more precious than anything on earth, or at least than

2 A

370 GENERAL REMARKS.

anything that is of the earth, might l)y any means he restored to
its perfect and original candiiinn " (Latin text : " restitui 'pv)>set in
integrum"). Dr Abbott, in his Introduction to the "Essays"
writes of Bacon : " He seems to believe that in some happier
original condition of Mankind, the Mind and Nature were once
wedded, but are now divorced. He aims at restoring to its perfect
and original condition tluit commerce between the Mind of Man and
the Nature of Things, which is more precious than anything on earth "
(Works, vol. iv. p. 7, "Bacon as a Philosopher," LXVII).
There can be no doubt Bacon did believe in some prehistoric
period, when knowledge was profounder, for Spedding even
acknowledges this. Bacon writes : " The Grecians were, as one
of themselves sayeth. You Grsecians are ever children ! They
knew little antiquity ; they knew, except fables, not much above
five hundred years before themselves. They knew but a small
portion of the world " (Bacon's " Note Book ").

In the " Magia Adamica " of Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius
Philalethes) we find him repeating this : " Most apposite then
was that check of the ^Egyptian to Solon : 0 Solon, Solon ! Vos
Gh'ceci semper pueri estis, nullam antiquam habendes Opinionem,
nullam disciplinam tempore canam." "You Grsecians (said he)
are ever childish, having no ancient opinion, no discipline of
any long standing" (p. 91, Waite's "Magical "Writings of
Vaughan ").

It is very curious to find the Rosicrucian founder presenting
his society with ^^ New growths, new fruits* — and prescribed them
tiew Axiomata," because this is thoroughly Baconian language, as
every student will immediately recognise. In Bacon's " Natural
History " we read, " Our experiments we take care to be (as
we have often said) either E.rperiinenfa, Fructifera, or Lucifera —
either of use or of discovery." And as for " Axiomata," it is a

* Page 69, " Fama Frateniitatis," Waite's " History of the Rosiernciaiis."
Raw] ey writes (Preface to the Reader, " Sylva Sylvarum ") : "And for use,
his Lordship hath often in his month, tlie two kinds of exiieriments, Experi-
menta Fructifc7-o, and Evpcr'unm.f.a Lucifera."

GENERAL REMARKS. 371

word rei)eatcdly employed by Bacon in the " Novum Organum "
of any general proposition. In Aphorism 103, " AxioriKita" aie
contrasted with " Opera" and "particularia." In Aphorism 104
he speaks of ^^axiomata (jcnendismna" (qnalia sunt primipia qitif
vacant artium et rerum), "axionmta media," and " axioimita miiaira "
or "injiiim." So frequently does Bacon introduce this word that
it really constitutes a great feature of the " Noviun Organum,"
namely the discovery of neio axioms or axiomata. " For our road
does not lie on a level, but ascends and descends ; Jirst ascendiar/
to axioms, then, descending to works." . . . Again, " But from the
new lif/ht of axioms, which, having been educed from these par-
ticulars by a certain method and nile, shall in their turn point
out the way again to new particulars " (Aphorism 103, " Xovum
Organum," Book I.). In short, the "Xovum Organum" is
largely made up of a system of establishing axioms by forms of
Induction.

Campanella's " City of the Sun."

I cannot do better than transcribe here Ximrod's description
of Campanella's " City of the Sun " (Civitas Solis) from his " Dis-
courses of History and Fable." Ximrod was a profound student
of this class of literature, and the attentive reader will recognize
many points reflected in Bacon's writings. " It is impossible for
me to pass under silence the name of Thomas Campanella. He
was a Dominican friar of Calabria, endowed with great talents,
but addicted to atheism and magic. Being accused of those
errors, he was confined in the inquisition at Rome ; and after-
wards banished to a convent at Stilo, his native town. He de-
clared that St Bridget,* Joachim of Calabria, Savonarola, and

* The learned author of Niiurod seems to think that the Rosicrucians be-
longed to the order of Mandaitian Sabaites. Mandaite from Javar ilando di
heye or Herald of Life. The Jardeno, or mystic Jordan of the ilandaites, is
interpreted by them a stream of red water, and derived from ourda a rose.
Giordano Bruno says that all wisdom, Divine, Mathematical, and Natural, jwo-
cccdsfroiii the inteUigibk suit ("Si)accio de la Bestia,"p. 215). His doctrine i.s

372 GENERAL REMARKS.

even St John the Evangelist, had prophesied concerning him,
and he caused himself to be announced as The Messiah fhat vms to
come (Giannone, 'History di Xapoli,' p. 311). Campanella ;,s
said to have undergone atrocious tortures, but he escaped the
ca})ital punishment to Avhich his dupes were condemned, by sham-
ming madness in the depositions Avhich he made. However he
remained in prison from 1600 to 1626. He was the author of
a romance entitled ' Civitas Solis Idea Eeipublicce Philosophica','
which is a production running on all fours with Inchoffer's
' Monarchy of the SoJvpses,' except that the former is a serious
panegyric, and the latter a severe satire, u})on the same thing.
In a dialogue between a Genoese navigator and the Grand Master
of the Hospitallers, the former describes the City of the Sun in
Taprobane. (T. Camp. Civ. Sol. annexed to Philos. Real, p. 417,
&c., ed Franc. 1623, date of Folio Shakespeare). Its description
coincides minutely with the scheme of that ancient city called
Babel or Troy, as heretofore explained by me. It is built with
four gates to the four cardinal points, and it is, distincta in. septem
gyros amlitusve ingentes a septem planetis nominatos, each enclosure
being strongly fortified. In the centre of all a mount ascends
from the plain, and upon its summit there is a temple constructed
with wonderful art.

" The temple is round and supported upon columns, without
Avails. It has a roof or dome upon which all the stars are deline-
ated. Upon the altar there is nothing but a large globe representing
earth, and another representing heaven." We pause in the descrip-
tion, to call attention to the parallel presented by the title-page
engraving of Bacon's "Advancement of Learning," 1640, to the
words placed in italics. For Bacon's entire "Advancement of
Learning " he calls the " Intellectual Globe," and, indeed, in an
intermediate sketch of the "De Augmentis," afterwards aban-
doned, written in 1612, shows us he had once the intention of

that of the Eastern Sabianism, and the same as are contained in Julian the
apostate's writings. " The Rosy Cross look upon Apolhmius as their tutelary
deity" (" Naude la Rose-Croix," p. 42).

GENERAL MEALIRKS. 37.]

entitling the " De Augmentis " by this name. Bacon conchides
eight books of the " De Augmentis " AVTith the words, " And
now (most excellent king) we have with a small bark, such as we
were able to set out, sail'd about the universal circumference of
the old (IS the new World of Sciences " (ch. i. Book IX.). Again
in the eighth book, "Deinde et ad perfectionem literarum hoc
ipsum spectat, (juia legitime inquisitionis vera norma est, ut nihil
inveniatur in r/lobo matericc, quod nun liahcat parallelum in gloho
crystallino sive intellectu" (772. Phil. AVorks, I., Spedding). To wit
— " This kind of wisdom much respects the perfection of Learn-
ing ; because it is the right rule of a perfect inquiry that nothing
be found in the Globe of Matter, that hath not a parallel in
the Crystalline Globe or the Intellect"* (Book VIII., p. 59,
" Advancement of Learning "). Remark Bacon's " Description of
the Intellectual Globe," written in 1612, opens with his tripartite
division of History, Poetry, and Philosophy (as in the Second
Book Advancement 1605 and 1623), and deals largely with the
heavens and astronomy. The reader may see on the title-page re- -]
ferred to, the two globes portrayed — or hemispheres, one entitled
the Visible world, the other the invisible world ; the former plainly
the old world, the latter dotted out only. It is to the last that
his ship emblem is bound on an intellectual voyage of discovery.
And this should be paralleled with the fact, the "New Atlantis "
is an island placed mid the ocean of the new world, like Prospero's
magic island in " The Tempest."

Miranda. Oh\'a,\e New World!

That this is no imaginary theory is proved by Bacon's language
in his "Distribution Preface," where, speaking of the Prseter-
mitted Parts, entitled "^ New World of Sciences" (marked by
stars), he writes : — "Wherefore we will not neglect to ride along

* "Dr Thompson, the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, has pointed out
to me that the origin of liacon's ' globe of matter ' and ' globe of crystal or
form' is probably the crtpalpos alad-qros and the crtpaipos vorjTds of Enipedocles
as inter])reted by Prochis. See Proclus in Timreum, p. 160 D, and Simplicius
in Physica, ji. 7 b." (Wright, " Advancement of Learning").

374 GENERAL REMARKS.

(;is it were in passage) the ojush of accepted Sciences and Arts —
for these are found in the Intclledual Globe, as in the terrestrial
soils, improved and deserts." We continue our description of
the " City of the Sun " : — " The citizens are governed by their
high priest, whom in their language they call SoL, and designate
l»y the symbol 0, but whom we might properly call Metaphysicus.
TJieij hare all their possessions in common, and the dispensation of
them appertains to magistrates." We must again beg the reader's
indulgence to point out an unquestionable and important Kosi-
crucian parallel, which attracted the attention of the author of
Nimrod, Avho writes (p. 517) further on: — "The Christianopolis,
Uranopolis, or Eleutheropolis of Andreae (John Val. Andreas, to
whom De Quincey attributes the entire liosicrucian hoax, as he
considers it) has a certain similitude to the Civitas Solis. He
desired to abolish property and establish communifi/ of goods" ("Rep.
Christ.," c. XV., p. 48 ; "Myth Christ.," L. vi. c. 7, p. 285). This
is a strong point, showing how these works are affiliated. But
the astonishing parallel furnished by the play of "The Tempest,"
in the Avords of Gonzalo, finds extraordinary point, seeing Pros-
pero's magic island,* like the island of the " New Atlantis," is
evidently a dream or Utopian paradise.

GoH. Had I plantation of this isle, my lord, —

Ant. He'd sow't with nettle-seed.

Scb. Or docks, or mallows.

Goii. And were the king on't, what would I do 1

Seh. 'Scape being drunk for want of wine.

Gon. V th' commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things ; for no kind of traffic
Would I admit ; no name of magistrate ;
Letters should not be known ; riches, poverty,
And use of service, none ; contract, succession,

* Bacon writes : — " For 'tis an immense Ocean that surrounds the island of
Truth" (p. 58, vol. ii., Shaw's Edition, 1733),

Compare — "So to live in one place that neither the people wliich dwell
l)eyoud the Ganges could hide anything, nor those which live in Peru might
be al)le to keep their secret, their counsel from thee" (ch. iv., "Confessio
R. C."):—

Bacon's "New Atlantis" — "We sailed from Pcm (where we had continued
by the space of one whole year)."

GENERAL REMARKS. 375

Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none ;
No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil ;
No occuiial.ion ; all men idle, all ;
And women too, but innocent and pure ;
No sovereignty ; —

Seh. Yet he would be king on't.

Ant. The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.

Gon. All thinga in common nature should produce
Without sweat or endeavour : treason, felony,
Sword, jiike, knife, gun, or need of any engine.
Would I not have ; but nature should biing forth,
Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance.
To feed my innocent people.

Seb. No marrying 'mong his subjects ?

Ant. None, man ; all idle ; whores and knaves.

Gon. I would with such perfection govern, sir, to excel the golden age.

("Tempest," act ii. sc. 1.)

Critics have joined issue with Sebastian and Antonio in de-
claring the author of the plays, intended to turn into ridicule
Gonzalo's speech. But they forget that Sebastian and Antonio
are the '\\dcked scoffers, who fall under Prospero's especial dis-
pleasm-e, and they overlook the fact Prospero loves Gonzalo, and
terms him his ^^true premrver." On the contrary, it may be seen
in the reproof Gonzalo brings upon the disbelievers in the
matter of Tunis being identical with Carthage, and the incredulity
this is met with by the same characters, the author's inten-
tion was to make the seemingly impossible and miraculous the
real, and by art to mock us as we laugh with the cynics in the
play. The reader may see Campanella's ideas and Andreas' re-
produced in the line —

All things in common — .

Campanella writes : " The communitij of women is likewise one of
their institutions." Compare —

No marrying 'mong his subjects.
There can be no doubt that these words * of Gonzalo's point to

* Gonzalo. I would with such perfection govern, sir ;
T' excel the golden age.
This is the key to the passage. The Rosicrucians believed in the Golden
Age or Millennium, and its return with the end of the Times.

376 GENERAL REMARKS.

these literary Utopi.as or Philosophical Eepublics we cite. And

it is curious Campanolla's " City of the Sun" was published 1623,

the same date as the Folio plays and the " De Augmentis."

The fact that Bacon's last work, published in 1627, the year

after he died, presents us with the ideal portrait of an island

placed mid-ocean, and that the last play written and placed first

in the 1623 Folio also is laid upon an island, carries a certain

amount of evidence by parallelism along with it. Prospero deals

in just that sort of magic which Disraeli maintains is Rosicru-

cian. And there is the further parallel given by John Heydon,

who identifies Bacon's "New Atlantis " with the "Land of the

Rosicrucians." We have already found that the author of "The

Tempest " was thinking of the Rosicrucian Utopias of Campanella

and John Valentine Andreas, when he puts in Gonzalo's mouth

the description of an ideal Republic, already cited by us. It is

perfectly true Gonzalo's speech reads like satire rather than

truth. But we must again remember Prospero terms him his

^^ true preserver."

Holy Gonzalo, honoiu-able man,

Mine eyes even sociable to the show of thine

Fall fellovvy drops.

0 good Gonzalo

3Ii/ true preserver and a loyal sir

To him thou follow' St.

(" Tempest," act v. sc. 1.)

It is our conviction Gonzalo is introduced as an emblem of
faith and miracle. He utters seeming extravagances, but the evi-
dent intention of the poet author was to contrast his ideal utter-
ances and longings favourably against the sceptics and incredidovs
scoffers who laugh at him.

Ad. Widow Dido said yon ? You make me study of that ;
She was of Cartilage, not of Tunis.
Gon. TJiis Tunis, sir, 2vas Carthage.
Ad. Carthage ?
Go'ii. I assure yotc Carthage.
Ad. . His word is inore than the miraculous harp.
Seb. He hath raised the wall and houses too.
Ant, What imi)ossible matter will lie make easy next ?

GENERAL REMARKS. 377

Sch. I think he will carry this islaml Ikhiic in lii.s pocket, and give it his
son for an apple.

Ant. And sowing the kernels of it in the sea, luiiig forth more islands.
Oon. Ay.

(Act ii. se. 1.)

We see Gonzalo is right upon the uiatter of Tunis having been
Carthage ! And this suggests the poet's intention was to show
Gonzalo being right on one point, ix right in all his tdterances.
It may be observed Gonzalo's critics are the unbelievers who
gradually are brought under the power of Prospero's wrath and
self-disclosure. Those who, like ourselves, perceive a miraculous
element foreshadowed in Bacon's art, of a planned revelation
accompanying cipher discovery, will recognise in the portrait of
Gonzalo and his critics a parallel akin to the present position of
the Bacon Shakespeare problem in England.

The year Bacon died (1626), Ben Jonson wrote a Masque
called '' The Fortunate Isles," * which was designed for the Court
on Twelfth jS'ight of that year. Both the title and the internal
evidence point to the play of " The Tempest." In introducing
one Johphiel, an airy spirit, it is certain Ben Jonson is parodijiag
Ariel. That Prospero holds some sort of affinity to Jupiter, must
be patent to those who reflect upon the introduction of the
classical Masque with Ceres, Juno, and Iris, or the speech where
he says " He has rifted the stout oak with Jove's own bolt" —

Enter, running, Johphiel, an airy si^irit, and (according to the Magi) the in-
telligence of Jiqjiter's si}here : attired in light silks of several colours, with
icings of the same, a bright yellow ha ir, a chaplet of flowers, blue silk stock-
dngs, aiul pum2}s, and gloves, with a silver fail in his hand.

Johp. Like a lightning from the sky,

Or an arrow shot by Love,
Or a bird of his let Hy ;

Be't a sparrow, or a dove :
With that winged haste, come I,
Loosed from the sphere of Jove,
To wish good-night
To your delight.

(" The Fortunate Lsles," act 1.)

* " The Fortunate Isles, and their Union, celebrated in a Mast^ue designed
for the Court, on the Twelfth-Night, 1626."

378 GENERAL REMARKS.

Ill the following extract there is a parallel to Gonzalo's s})eoch,
upon his ideal Commonwealth, or Utopia, already quoted by us : —

for. No intermitted wind

Blows here, bnt wliat leaves flowers or fmit behind.

C)(o. 'Tis odour all that comes !
And every tree doth give his gums.

Tro. There is no sickness, nor no old age known
To man, nor any grief that he dares own.
There is no hunger here, nor envy of state,
Nor least ambition in the magistrate.
But all are even-hearted, open, free.
And what one is, another strives to be.

For. Here all the day they feast, they sport and spring,
Now dance the Grace's hay, now Venus ring :
To which the old musicians play and sing.

Sar. There is Arion, tuning his bold liarp,
From flat to sharp.

For. And light Anacreon,
He still is one !

Pro. Stesiehorus there too.

That Linus and old Orpheus doth outdo
To wonder.

(" The Fortunate Isles," act 1.)

I think nobody, who carefully reads this masque, Avill fail to
perceive, that Ben Jonson had the play of " The Tempest " — the
magic island of Prospero — in his mind's eye when he wrote " The
Fortunate Isles," in 1626. The above is the description of an
kleuX terrestrial paradise. And this idea is reflected in the play of
" The Tempest " in many points and touches.

Ferdinand. Let me live here ever ;
So rare a wonder'd father and a wife,
Make this 2Jlace Paradise. (" Tempest.")

This is no chance metaphor, as we may find the following
parallel pointing to Virgil's Vth book of the " .^neid " : —
Come unto these yellow sands
And then join hands, &c. , &c.

— which evidently is plagiarized from Virgil's description of
J'anidise or the Elysian fields.

Pais in gramineis exercent membra palrestris
Conteudunt ludo, etfulva luctantur arena.

(Book VL, "iEueid.")

GENERAL REMARKS. 379

The opening of the Heavens by Prospero in the presentation of
the masque proves our case, for this was just the heavenly side
of the Mysteries — the initiate being first led through a symbolical
death into Tartarus or Hell, and afterwards presented with a
sight of the Gods of Olympus. All this is represented by Virgil
in his sixth book of the " ^neid," which, ever since Warburton's
"Divine Legation," has been accepted as a description of initia-
tion into these shoAvs. Why should Bacon imitate all this % The
reply is not far to seek. He treads in the footsteps of Virgil
and Dante. And it is just these Ancient Mysteries, circling
round the origins of the Drama, which constitute the particular
fountain lore, of societies like the Rosicrucians, and to which even
modern Freemasonry traces back its history. We maintain the
island of " The Tempest " is one of the Fortunate Isles, described
by Lambcrtus Floridus as " Paradisus insula in oceam iuorievte," or
of Olympiodoms (MSS. Commentary on the '' Gorgias " of Plato),
which he calls the Islands of the Blessed — of the emancipated soul
— that is, of Truth and Light.

The curious part is that this masque is full of the Rosicrucians,
whom Ben Jonson identifies with the plaijers.

Mercfool. I do like tlieir show,
And would have thanked them, being the first grace
The company of the Rosy-cross hath done me.

Johp. The company o' the Rosy-cross, you Avidgeon !
The company of [the] players. Go, you are.
And will be still yourself, a Merefool, in :
And take your pot of honey here, and hogsgrease,
See who has gulled you, and make one. [Exit Merefool.

It is quite a mistake to think Jonson introduces the Rosicrucians
only to make fun of them. He makes fun of one Merefool,
who is seeking to enter their ranks. But in hogsgrease * is there
no reference to Bacon ?

* Lord Bacon adopted during his lifetime the crest of a boar, or Hog, which
may be seen upon the cover of the " Novum Organum," 1620. This shows he
entered perfectly into the joke of the play upon his name Bacon.
Hang Hog is Latin for Bacon.

("Merry Wives of Windsor.")

3So GENERAL REMARKS.

Sar. And Ampliiou ! he is there.

Por. Nor is Apollo dainty to appear

In snch a (juire ; although the trees be thick.

Pro. He will look in, and see the airs be quick,
And that the times be true.

Por. Then, chanting.

Pro. Then,

Up with their notes, they raise the Prince of Men.

Snr. And sing the ])resent i)roj)hecy that goes.
Of joining the bright Lily and the Rose.

The lily and the rose are the two Eosicrucian flowers. We
have already found Heydon identifying Bacon's "New Atlantis"
with the land of the Rosicrucians. But the Atlantis, according
to all the Ancients, was Ogygia, the Isle of the Hesperides, in
short, one of the Fortuiude Ides, placed in the AVest, and supposed
to be the birth-place and home of Jupiter, and other gods of
Olympus. How is it Jonson introduces the Eosicnicians in con-
nection with the Fortunate Isles ? For the Island of Atlantis has
been abundantly identified Avith not only Avalon, or the Grass
Green Island of Apples (another name for the Hesperides), but
with the Paradise and Infernal Regions of the Ancients. AVe
find in the names of the Shakespeare Theatres titles which are
strangely Rosicrucian — the Rose, the Swan, the Phoenix, the
Curtain (or Veil), the Globe ; and, moreover, we find in the
"Confession of the Rosicrucian Fraternity" of 1615, that "owe of
the greatest impostors being a stage player, a man with sufficient
ingenuity for imposition." The fact that a religious society like the
Rosicrucians should call attention to the stage, or to an actor upon it,
is pregnant with profound evidence if carefull}' considered at all.
There is only one conceivable type of impostorship connected
with a stiige player outside his profession, and that is authorship.
Shakespeare was both actor and reputed author.